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Notably, it does not mean what the logical grouping of those words would mean: "begs for the question to be asked". Of course, I believe I've seen "begs the qu

by IvyMike 14y ago

Notably, it does not mean what the logical grouping of those words would mean: "begs for the question to be asked". Of course, I believe I've seen "begs the question" used correctly exactly never, and there's an obvious need for a pithy idiom for "begs for the question to be asked", but we don't really have one. This once again awakens my suspicions that the English language is an elaborate practical joke. And I say that as a native speaker.

bcoates 14y ago
It's just a way of filling time and distancing yourself from the question. Irregardless of pendantry about the definition you usually improve your sentence by just leaving it out.
- eric_h 14y ago
  "Irregardless of the pedantry[...]" I'm just going to assume that's intentional irony. Genius.
philwelch 14y ago
> and there's an obvious need for a pithy idiom for "begs for the question to be asked" "raises the question". Educated people saved the word "irony" once, "begs the question" isn't gone yet.
- IvyMike 14y ago
  The misuse of "irony" is another one of those situations that seems to show that there's a missing word in the English language. To take one specific example from Alanis, (yes I'm going there), there's something peculiarly funny about "ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife" in a way that wouldn't be if you had "ten thousand turtles when all you need is a knife". I think we needed a word for "bittersweet happenstance", and people wrongly latched onto "irony".
  - rbehrends 14y ago
    There is a term for this: "irony of fate" [1]. Which is presumably where the confusion with irony (as a stand-alone word) comes from. Interestingly enough, the term exists in a literal translation in other languages, too: "Ironie des Schicksals" in German, "ironie du sort" in French, and "ironia della sorte" in Italian. [1] http://www.bartleby.com/81/8963.html http://www.bartleby.com/81/8963.html
- Dylan16807 14y ago
  I like 'begging' more than 'raising'. The question is not just there but highlighted in neon.

by IvyMike 14y ago

bcoates 14y ago

It's just a way of filling time and distancing yourself from the question. Irregardless of pendantry about the definition you usually improve your sentence by just leaving it out.

eric_h 14y ago
"Irregardless of the pedantry[...]" I'm just going to assume that's intentional irony. Genius.

philwelch 14y ago

> and there's an obvious need for a pithy idiom for "begs for the question to be asked" "raises the question". Educated people saved the word "irony" once, "begs the question" isn't gone yet.

IvyMike 14y ago
The misuse of "irony" is another one of those situations that seems to show that there's a missing word in the English language. To take one specific example from Alanis, (yes I'm going there), there's something peculiarly funny about "ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife" in a way that wouldn't be if you had "ten thousand turtles when all you need is a knife". I think we needed a word for "bittersweet happenstance", and people wrongly latched onto "irony".
- rbehrends 14y ago
  There is a term for this: "irony of fate" [1]. Which is presumably where the confusion with irony (as a stand-alone word) comes from. Interestingly enough, the term exists in a literal translation in other languages, too: "Ironie des Schicksals" in German, "ironie du sort" in French, and "ironia della sorte" in Italian. [1] http://www.bartleby.com/81/8963.html http://www.bartleby.com/81/8963.html
Dylan16807 14y ago
I like 'begging' more than 'raising'. The question is not just there but highlighted in neon.